With China Unicom deal done, does Apple have a stealth China Mobile iPhone plan?

“Despite ongoing talk about possible tie-up with the mother of all cellular carriers, China Mobile, equity research firm Wedge Partners believes Apple may have found a new way to sell iPhones to some of the carrier’s half-a-billion subscribers. Wedge’s managing principal, Matt Mathison, thinks Apple will ink a deal with a large cell-phone retailer called Di Xing Tong, which owns hundreds of storefronts in China. The chain is owned by Foxconn, the massive contract manufacturer that builds so many of Apple’s products,” Peter Burrows reports for BusinessWeek.

“if Apple gets this retail presence, Chinese consumers would be able to buy phones and unlock them for use on China Mobile’s network,” Burrows reports. “Mathison believes Apple could sell as many iPhones through this retail channel in 2010 as it will through its recently announced deal with China Unicom, which he says has a poor network and poor reputation with consumers.”

“Says Mathison in an interview, ‘all of a sudden, the number of iPhones Apple can sell in China in 2010 could double.’ Note that there are also reports that Apple is still in negotiations with China Mobile,” Burrows reports. “Like the China Unicom model, Foxconn’s won’t feature Wifi, he says.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “James W.” for the heads up.]